Trihaloacyl derivatives of bisphenols and aromatic ethers, e.g. 4,4'isopropylidene diphenol and diphenyl ether, have been disclosed in copending patent applications of one of the present inventors NEW HALOACYL DERIVATIVES OF BISPHENOLS (Ser. No. 647,282, filed Sept. 4, 1984) and HALOACETYL DERIVATIVES OF AROMATIC COMPOUNDS (Ser. No. 858,133, filed Apr. 30, 1986). Such monomers have been found to be useful in preparing polyesters and polyamides. The formation of the haloacetyl derivatives of aromatic compounds, however, suffers from the drawback of the large amounts of Friedel-Crafts catalyst required. Since the monoacylated diphenyl ether can be made conveniently with substoichiometric quantities of Friedel-Crafts catalyst, it would be advantageous to make bisacylated materials by coupling the monoacylated material. Even if a stoichiometric quantity of a Friedel-Crafts catalyst is used in the coupling reaction, the net amount of catalyst per bisacylated product would be roughly half that required in the one-step bisacylation. The bisacylated monomers made according to the present process are useful in modifying the properties of polymers made from them.
The present invention is to a process to obtain such monomers and products made thereby.